Beating the drum with Indians.com reporter Jordan Bastian

Right-hander Josh Tomlin was on the mound. Lefty slugger David Ortiz was in the batter’s box. There was a runner on third base, first was open, two outs were in the books and Boston led by one run in the fifth inning.

Walk Ortiz, right?

“No,” Indians manager Terry Francona said matter-of-factly.

When Cleveland pitching coach Mickey Callaway headed to the mound to talk things over with Tomlin, wasn’t an intentional walk part of the conversation?

“No,” Tomlin said. “It was a conversation of, ‘We can gt this guy out. We can attack this guy, but attack him in a smart way.'”

So, why then, was this not a no-brainer?

First off, Tomlin entered the evening with better numbers this season against left-handed batters (.200 average/.586 OPS) than right-handed batters (.228/.644). Then, there was the fact that Ortiz — already 0-for-2 on the night — was 0-for-10 in his career against Tomlin prior to the fifth-inning at-bat. If Tomlin walks him, that brings up right-handed Mike Napoli, who not only has a homer in his career against the pitcher, but has hit righties (.444 slugging percentage) for more power than lefties (.364 SLG) this season.

The knee-jerk reaction — in the immediate aftermath of Ortiz’s two-run, game-changing, no-doubt blast to dead center — is to declare pitching to him a “dumb” move on Francona’s part. Just check my Twitter replies. You better believe that, in a situation such as this, there are no gut feelings or hunches on the part of Francona. The decision to face Ortiz, and try to avoid Napoli, was all based on data and percentages.

Hey, sometimes the numbers betray you.

“Going into that at-bat, he was 0-for-10,” said Francona, clearly aware of the stats that were in his favor. “I know what David can do. I’ve seen him do it. But Napoli hit the next ball off the wall. We wanted to get [Ortiz] out.”

Tomlin simply made a mistake. He wanted to keep Ortiz honest with a first-pitch fastball to the inner part of the plate. Big Papi fouled it off and was behind in the count. The right-hander’s next move — with that inside heater now in Ortiz’s mind — was to throw a pitch for a ball outside to try to get Ortiz to chase.

“It just kind of cut back over the middle of the plate,” Tomlin said. “He put a good swing on it.”

Given the way Lester pitched (7.2 IP, 2 R/1 ER), it was a mistake that proved too much to overcome for the Tribe.

SECOND: Francona pulled Tomlin from the contest after the right-hander’s 107th pitch, which resulted in a two-out triple to Jonathan Herrera in the sixth inning. With lefty-swinging Jackie Bradley Jr. due to hit out of the ninth slot, the manager felt it was an opportune time to give the ball to lefty Nick Hagadone.

“I thought it was a perfect situation for Hags,” Francona said.

Perhaps, but Hagadone wasn’t able to keep Boston at bay.

Following a four-pitch walk to Bradley, Hagadone slipped into a full count against Brock Holt. With two runners in scoring position now — Bradley stole second uncontested — the Red Sox third baseman took a healthy swing and connected for a double to left field that scored two runs.

“It worked out about as bad as it could,” Francona said. “That’s not how we drew it up.”

The Indians called up the 28-year-old Hagadone earlier this month from Triple-A after he posted a 2.25 ERA and had 22 strikeouts against just three walks in 12 innings in May. It was a chance to promote the lefty when his confidence was high. Two outings into his stint in the Majors, Hagadone looked strong, too, striking out four with no walks and one hit allowed in two innings.

In his past three appearances, Hagadone has been charged with two runs on three hits (one home run) with two walks and no strikeouts in just one-third of an inning. Hagadone, clearly frustrated, was asked after the game if there was something in particular he needed to look to fix.

“If I had that answer, I wouldn’t be pitching like this,” he said. “I don’t know.”

Francona was hoping to see better results from Hagadone in his latest trip to The Show.

“We wanted him to build off of what he had done at Triple-A, and in his first couple outings here,” Francona said, “because we need to find a way to get to [Bryan] Shaw and Cody [Allen]. We can’t pitch [Scott Atchison, Marc Rzepczynski and others] every night that early.”

THIRD: First baseman Nick Swisher served as the designated hitter in his return to the lineup for the Indians on Thursday. Activated from the 15-day disabled list prior to the game, Swisher finished the night 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, one groundout and one flyout. The groundout ended the sixth, when the Indians had runners on first and second base and were trailing by one run. Rust is obviously expected in the first game off the shelf, but Cleveland needs Swisher to return to his usual level of production.

HOME: For Throwback Thursday, Grady Sizemore came through with an RBI double in the second and made an impressive, wall-crashing catch in foul ground in the fifth against his former club. Let’s all tip our caps to Bradley, though. In the seventh, Michael Bourn sent a pitch to the wall in left-center field. Bradley tracked down the fly and made an impressive catch that was great enough on its own. Then, Bradley fired a rocket back to Napoli at first base, where it was collected on one hop. Napoli stepped on first, doubling up Mike Aviles to bring an abrupt halt to a potential late-inning rally for the Indians.

“That was a heck of a play, because he broke in,” Francona said. “I didn’t think he had any chance to catch that ball.”

CLEVELAND — Each baseball game can be broken down into a series of individual battles. Some confrontations end quickly, while other engagements are drawn out and develop into a battle of wits between a pitcher and batter.

The latter arose in the fifth inning of the Indians’ 5-3 victory over the Red Sox on Tuesday night. It was rookie against veteran slugger at a critical juncture in the contest. Indians lefty T.J. House was working with a two-run lead, had a runner on first base, two outs and Boston behemoth David Ortiz clapping his hands in the batter’s box.

“I’m not going to give in,” House said. “I know he’s Big Papi and he’s a good hitter, but my mind-set there is, ‘You’re going to have to earn this.'”

What followed was a classic 11-pitch battle between House and Ortiz, who eventually hacked at a sinker and flew out to center field to end the inning. That ended the cat-and-mouse game that Ortiz played with House and Cleveland catcher Yan Gomes. What stood out to Tribe pitching coach Mickey Callaway is the fact that House never caved or showed any sign of intimidation.

“It was a veteran approach,” Callaway said. “There are those guys where a young pitcher might be like, ‘Oh, man. I’m facing David Ortiz. I’ve been watching him on TV since I was little.’ That didn’t seem to faze him.”

Ortiz has seen 1,190 different pitchers throughout his storied career. The Red Sox designated hitter has launched a home run off 302 of those hurlers. House — called up from Triple-A Columbus on May 22 — has seen just 30 different batters in the Majors. The 24-year-old lefty was three years old when Ortiz signed his first professional contract in 1992.

On Tuesday night, the kid beat the sage.

One day later, House went through the anatomy of his fifth-inning battle with Ortiz, who was also retired by the starter in the first (groundout) and third (lineout) innings. The lefty opened their third meeting with a 93-mph sinker that tailed wide of the strike zone for a ball. House followed that with another two-seamer — a 91-mph sinker in the middle of the zone — which Ortiz swung at mightily for a foul ball.

“I want to challenge him,” House said of the first two pitches. “There’s no secret to how to get anybody out. I feel like, if I show him that I’m going to go out there and attack the guy, maybe I can get a few more swings with him outside the zone. If I can stay in there, and get [ahead in the count early], it’s going to be easier for me to change to a pitch that starts in the zone and then moves out.”

House then switched things up, burying an 83-mph low and outside to fall behind, 2-1.

“I wanted to change speeds on him,” House said. “It looks like my fastball, so I’m trying to get him to swing, trying to get him to get that ball. I had a lot of success with keeping my changeup out of the air and that’s a thing where he’s not going to hurt me. The worst is he’s hitting a single off me, but he’s not getting a ball in the gap and he’s not hitting a home run.

“And I’m trying to bury it. I want it on the ground. If I can get him to swing and he catches it out early, he’s just going to beat that ball on the ground.”

At that point, House decided he wanted to stop Ortiz from looking for an outside pitch, so the lefty sent an 86-mph slider high and inside. Boston’s DH swung and fouled off the offering, shouting in disgust that he did not do more damage.

“If you heard him, Ortiz was yelling the whole time in that at-bat,” Gomes said. “You could tell that he’s getting frustrated, because he’s probably missing pitches he should be hitting.”

Next came a 95-mph two-seam fastball, away and to the middle of the strike zone. Once again, Ortiz fouled it off, but this time the slugger stepped out of the box to collect himself. The increase in velocity was intentional on the part of House.

“Of course. He’s been seeing anywhere from 90 to 91,” House explained. “Right there, I figured, ‘Hey, just throw it as hard as you can and see what you get out of it. Pump it up, see if he catches up with it, maybe it catches him off guard a little bit.”

After burying an 88-mph slider low and away to run the count full, House worked through a string of offspeed offerings. Ortiz fouled off an 84-mph changeup that dropped low and outside the strike zone. He then fouled off an 87-mph slider that was over the middle, but spun down and away. Four lower-velocity pitches in a row kept the guessing game going.

House followed Gomes’ lead throughout the battle, but did admit to shaking off a curveball deep into the sequence.

“That’s my fourth-best pitch,” House said. “If he’s going to beat me, it’s going to be with my best pitch.”

“To be able to do that in that situation, and not get flustered,” said the pitching coach, “most guys, the game would speed up on them in that situation. It’s like, ‘Oh man, what do I do? What do I do?’ He just trusted that his fastball was good enough to get him, and that was the right pitch.”

The next foul ball off Ortiz’s bat came on a 94-mph sinker on the outside corner. For his 10th pitch, House snapped off an 88-mph slider, which Ortiz spoiled as it darted low and outside the zone. The Red Sox slugger again stepped out of the box, while House tried to devise yet another plan of attack.

“He’s either getting out or he’s getting a hit,” House said. “Because I’m not walking him.”

House and Gomes opted to go back to the sinker, one that clocked in at 94 mph and arrived at nearly the same spot as the left-hander’s second pitch to the slugger. Ortiz swung for the eighth time in the at-bat, sending the baseball to center field, where Michael Bourn easily made the catch an out.

“Even the last pitch,” Gomes said, “you see in the video, Ortiz is almost bailing out to get it. I was like, ‘How the heck did he know that pitch was coming?’ It’s a credit to House, man. That’s almost a Miguel Cabrera-type guy. You win by walking him. You’re trying to keep him off second base or off the scoreboard. He just kept going at him, man.”

For House, it was not only a satisfying moment, but a valuable lesson as he proceeds on with his season and career.

“It showed me that I can win those battles against those premiere players,” he said. “If I can go out there and do it against Big Papi, why can’t I go out there and do it against Chris Davis, or Adam Dunn, or Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton? It gives me that confidence going forward.”

FIRST: Indians manager Terry Francona had a simple way of summing up center fielder Michael Bourn’s impact on Cleveland’s lineup during a recent chat.

“He makes us go,” said the manager.

Lately, Bourn has indeed been a catalyst atop the Tribe’s order, looking every bit like the player Cleveland thought it had when it invested $48 million on him prior to last season. As the weather has warmed, so too has Bourny’s bat.

Since his second comeback from a left hamstring issue, Bourn has hit .320 (33-for-103) with two homers, five doubles, three triples, three stolen bases, nine walks, 12 RBIs and 14 runs scored in 24 games. That said, it’s fair to note that he’s hit .318 since his 1-for-13 start to the season. So, the strong showing isn’t only recent.

What has changed recently is witnessing Bourn looking more and more comfortable on the basepaths and in center field. He looks long removed from his hamstring issues (knock on wood).

“In a perfect world, every player feels 100 percent from Opening Day until the end of the season,” Francona said. “It’s not a perfect world. The realistic part of it is Bourny had surgery. He had to get some things fixed. He understands that the more he can impact a game with his legs, the better we are. He also understands that staying out on the field is important.”

In Tuesday’s win over the Red Sox, Bourn helped ignited a string of five consecutive hits with a single to left off Boston righty Jake Peavy. That early burst pushed Cleveland to a 3-0 lead. After the Red Sox rallied, it was Bourn’s two-run double off tough lefty Andrew Miller — a two-base hit that scraped high off the wall in left-center field — that broke the deadlock and sent the Indians to their fifth win in a row.

Bourn believes at least a portion of his success early on this season is due to this being his second year in the American League and with the Indians.

“Familiarity is always a key,” Bourn said. “I just try to learn the pitchers as I go. Some of them I’ve faced before being in the NL then they came over to the AL. Some of them I’ve got to lean on my teammates and hitting coach to tell me what they got. The best information you can have is for yourself. Once you know for yourself, you can make the adjustments within yourself. I just try to get familiar with it each day.”

SECOND: Rather than waiting for a blowout scenario to use recently-promoted lefty Nick Hagadone, Francona threw the reliever right into the fire on Tuesday night. With runners in first and second base and one out in the seventh inning, Hagadone entered and was asked to halt Boston’s push, which had already knotted the score.

Hagadone answered with back-to-back strikeouts and a fist pump to end the inning. The lefty then recorded to outs in the eighth, setting up a multi-inning save for Cody Allen and helping Cleveland dodge the earlier trouble experienced by the bullpen.

“That was a huge effort on Nick’s part,” Francona said.

In 18 appearances at Triple-A this season, Hagadone turned in a 3.09 ERA with 35 strikeouts and nine walks in 23 1/3 innings. His goal with Columbus was to be “more athletic” in his delivery, with the idea of pounding the strike zone more consistently. One byproduct of his tweaked mechanics, he found, was an improved breaking pitch.

The Red Sox saw the result.

Hagadone threw six of seven sliders for strikes, including two called, two fouled and two swung on and missed.

“He went down there and worked a little bit on his breaking ball,” said Indians starter T.J. House, who took a no-decision on Tuesday and spent much of this year with Hagadone at Columbus. “I saw it tonight and that thing is absolutely filthy. I told him. He looks a lot better. He’s a confident guy.”

The Indians promoted Hagadone on Monday to help out against Boston’s lefty-heavy lineup. Francona also felt it was an opportune time for a promotion, considering Hagadone had 22 strikeouts and only three walks in 12 stellar innings in May. If the Hagadone Cleveland saw on Tuesday is the pitcher they’ll have from here on out…

“That would be wonderful,” Francona said. “We brought him in and, in Triple-A, he had been on a really nice roll. So we thought it was a good time to get him back here. That’s a pretty high- leverage situation and he handled it really well.”

THIRD: House took a no-decision, but turned in 5 2/3 solid innings. One of the runs on his pitching line was the result of an outing-gone-awry by lefty Marc Rzepczynski. In particular, House’s fifth-inning battle with slugger David Ortiz was especially impressive.

House engaged in an 11-pitch confrontation with Big Papi, winning in the end by creating an inning-ending flyout with a 94-mph two-seamer.

“That was a tough at-bat, but it was really fun,” House said. “I used to watch him when I was in junior high and high school play. So, it’s actually pretty cool to get out there and face a guy like that and actually have success.”

HOME: Don’t look now, but the Indians are 4 1/2 games behind the Tigers in the AL Central standings. After a loss to the A’s on May 18, Cleveland was 10 1/3 games back of Detroit in the division. While it sounds cliché, Francona believes his players have done well in adopting a day-to-day mentality, rather than getting overwhelmed by the early hole they found themselves in.

“I think that’s the only way you can dig yourself out,” Francona said. “It can look so daunting when you look too far in advance. But, when you just take care of what you’re supposed to that day, all of a sudden you start doing what you’re supposed to, you pay attention to detail, do your job, and things can mount in a good way.”

Winning eight in a row at home and going 20-11 overall in front of the locals certainly helps.

“Yeah. You’re saying it as we’re about to embark on a 11-day road trip. Thanks,” Francona said. “No, I’m glad. I hope we win everywhere, but we’ve been really good here. I’m glad.”

FIRST: There is a term for what Indians starter Justin Masterson did in the fourth on Monday night. Nasty Masty spun what is known as an immaculate inning.

Nine pitches. Three up, three down. Three strikeouts.

“I didn’t know it was nine pitches,” Masterson said. “I knew I punched out the side.”

It all happened so fast, but — believe it or not — it had never happened previously for an Indians pitcher. According to research done by Cleveland’s media relations staff, no Indians pitcher was known to have accomplished an immaculate inning prior to Masterson on Monday night.

It is believed that Masterson is just the 70th pitcher in baseball history to have achieved the feat.

“He was throwing all his pitches with a lot of conviction,” Indians manager Terry Francona said, “which is a good sign. I think when you’re throwing that many strikes and you’re throwing them with all pitches, you’re going to be confident.”

That stretch came within a run of 25 consecutive strikes that ran from the last batter in the third (A.J. Pierzynski) to the second hitter in the sixth (David Ortiz). That marked the longest such streak by a Major Leaguer since Scott Diamond ran off 26 strikes in a row on June 24, 2012 against the Reds. On April 18, 2012, Bartolo Colon fired 38 straight strikes against the Angels.

Asked about that streak, Masterson cracked a grin.

“I’ve felt like I’ve thrown 25 balls in a row in one game,” he said with a laugh. “So, it’s nice to throw 25 strikes.”

What was amazing about Masterson’s strike-throwing showing was that it followed an incredibly rough opening to his night. The righty dodged damage in the first few innings, but he needed 61 pitches (32 strikes/29 balls) to record seven outs within the first 13 batters he faced. From there, he threw 44 pitches (35 strikes/9 balls) to the final 13 batters he faced, covering 14 outs.

We talked a little bit earlier about how the first three innings, he kind of cruises and then he runs into a tough spot,” Francona said. “He kind of flipped it tonight. Boy, did he ever. He’s facing a bunch of left-handers. He stayed down. He started changing speeds. He just attacked the strike zone.

“You look up in the third inning and you think, ‘OK, we’ve got the lead, but we’re going to be into our bullpen early.’ He got us pretty deep.”

SECOND: The Indians didn’t get much going against Red Sox righty John Lackey (three runs on eight hits in eight innings), but they jumped on the two walks he issued in the first. Tribe leadoff man Michael Bourn set the table in the opening frame and came through again in the third.

Bourn drew a leadoff walk in the first and promptly stole second base. He and Michael Brantley (also walked) both scored on a two-run single from Lonnie Chisenhall. In the third, Bourn led off with a triple and scored on a single from Asdrubal Cabrera. Bourn also reached via single in the fifth, but was stranded.

“He makes us go,’ Francona said. “You could see he set the tone tonight. The first pitch, he takes off and steals a bag. He hits a triple that, maybe when it was cold and he wasn’t confident was a double. You can see how much he’s enjoying that aspect of it. You can see how proud he was of it. He should be. When he goes like that, we can be a different team.”

Since his second comeback from a hamstring issue, Bourn has hit .313 (31-for-99) with two home runs, four doubles, three triples, three stolen bases, nine walks, 10 RBIs and 13 runs in 23 games for Cleveland. Bourn said a key lately has been being more aggressive.

“A little bit — just taking an opportunity when it’s there,” Bourn said. “That’s the main thing, not try to miss out on too many opportunities. If an opportunity exists there you got to try to be aggressive.”

THIRD: The two runs scored by Boston came in the eighth inning, when Xander Bogaerts launched a two-run home run off setup man Bryan Shaw. The right-hander has been used a lot lately and Francona admitted that he probably should’ve gone in another direction in that inning.

“I think those should’ve been my earned runs tonight,” Francona said.

Boston had lefty-hitting Jackie Bradley Jr. due to lead off, so Francona figured the Red Sox would turn to a pinch hitter if he opened the inning with lefty Marc Rzepczynski. The next two batters, Brock Holt (.421 average and 1.031 OPS) and Bogaerts (.308/.885) entered with great numbers against lefties, too. So, Francona turned to Shaw and opted to save Rzepczynski if the inning went awry and Ortiz and A.J. Pierzynski were coming up.

I really wanted Zep to face those two if we got in trouble,” Francona said.

Shaw got the initial groundout, but then gave up a single and a home run. After getting Dustin Pedroia to ground out, Francona turned to Rzepczynski against Ortiz, who flew out. As it happens, Shaw and Zep are tied for the Major League lead in relief appearances at 30 apiece. Shaw was also pitching in his third straight game after logging 47 pitches in his previous two outings.

Shaw has now given up three runs on four hits with one walk and no strikeouts in his last two innings over the past two games, raising his season ERA to 2.22 from 1.37.

“I told Shaw,” Francona said, “if he goes to arbitration, ‘I’ll go with you and tell them I shouldn’t have pitched you that much tonight.'”

Fair enough.

HOME: Monday marked Sizemore’s return to Cleveland after a long road of recovery, following multiple knee injuries, surgeries and setbacks. He said before the game that Cleveland “still feels like home,” and it probably did again when he stepped to the plate in the ninth inning.

The Indians were up by one run, there were two outs, the count was full and the baseball gods saw fit to have Sizemore in the batter’s box. It was all set up perfectly for a feel-good moment for Sizemore, but Tribe setup man Cody Allen — drafted in 2011, which was the last time Sizemore played a game with the Indians — had other things in mind.

Allen induced a game-ending flyout to Cabrera at short to notch his fourth save.

“I was a kid when he was here at his peak. He was an animal here,” Allen said of Sizemore. “So, to be able to get him out for the 27th out was pretty cool, in this ballpark. This is his first time back, so that was a pretty cool feeling.”

There is an adult-sized chicken costume sitting in the empty locker to the right of Corey Kluber’s stall inside Cleveland’s clubhouse at Progressive Field. Outside the locker room, there is a photo of two adult-sized chickens standing in the outfield of the Indians’ home ballpark.

Through some intense investigative reporting, it has been determined that one of the mystery chickens was reliever Cody Allen, whose nickname among teammates is, in fact, “Chicken.” The other player within the poultry suit was discovered to be Kluber.

Kluber has become known for his stoic persona. A smile from the right-hander is a rare sight. The chicken suit is a glimpse into a side of Kluber that he has not revealed to the public. He has embraced the robotic character that has been created in the public domain. This was never more evident than during an in-game television interview, in which Kluber never flinched amidst a shower of powder and sunflower seeds.

For the Indians, May was Kluber’s coming-out party. He might not have a nationally-recognized name yet, but you better believe that people within baseball know all about Kluber by now. I am always hesitant to slap the label “ace” on anyone, but I will say that I feel Kluber is has the makings of ace material.

Let’s take a look at some factoids about the Klubot’s season to date and strong May:

As of this writing, Kluber has logged six straight starts with at least 6.2 IP and eight strikeouts. That ties an Indians record held by Sudden Sam McDowell (1970), Herb Score (1956-57) and Bob Feller (1938-39).

That’s the longest such streak in the American League since CC Sabathia had seven such outings in a row during the 2011 season.

Kluber’s six-game streak of having at least 6.2 IP, eight strikeouts and no more than two walks tied an AL record, which is shared by Roger Clemens (1997) and Randy Johnson (1995). Johnson holds the NL record for that unique pitching-line streak with eight in a row in 2001. Sandy Koufax went seven straight in 1965, and some guys named R.A. Dickey (2012), Curt Schilling (2002) and Pedro Martinez (1997) had six-game runs.

Kluber is the only pitcher in the past 100 seasons for the Indians to have four straight starts with at least seven innings, eight strikeouts and no more than two walks. That statistical line had been achieved in three consecutive outings 12 times.

Entering Sunday, Kluber led the Major Leagues with eight games with at least eight strikeouts and six games with at least nine strikeouts. The righty also led MLB with 95 strikeouts on the season.

In May, Kluber became the first Indians pitcher since Dennis Eckersley (1976) to have at least 60 strikeouts in one month Kluber joined Yu Darvish as the only Major League pitchers over the past 10 seasons (2005-14) to have at least 60 strikeouts in any one month. Darvish had 64 in Sept/Oct of last season with the Rangers.

Kluber’s May marked only the 20th time in the past 100 years that a Major League pitcher ended one month with at least 60 strikeouts and no more than 43 baserunners. The others: Johnson (six times), Schilling (three), Pedro (twice), Clemens (twice), Koufax, Darvish, Johan Santana, Kerry Wood, Mike Scott, Dwight Gooden.

Kluber became only the fifth pitcher (19 times) to have at least 60 strikeouts in a single month. Besides Eckersley (’76), McDowell (eight times), Score (’56) and Feller (eight times) accomplished the feat. Kluber (eight walks) is the only one of that group to have fewer than 17 walks in the same month. His 12.6 K/9 and 7.50 K:BB are also the highest for any of the 19 occurrences.

Kluber was the highlight of May for the Indians, but the club also endured some ups and downs to produce 15 wins — a solid comeback from a rough April. All-Star second baseman Jason Kipnis missed most of the month due to a right oblique injury, but Mike Aviles performed admirably in his absence and Dr. Smooth (Michael Brantley) and Lonnie Baseball (Lonnie Chisenhall) both continued on their torrid starts.

Notes: After a dismal and disappointing April, the Indians enjoyed a solid overall showing this past month. In fact, the last time a Cleveland team posted at least a .770 OPS to go along with at least 130 runs, 100 walks and 410 total bases in one month was August of 2008. If you add the element of having fewer than 200 strikeouts, you have to reach back to May of 2006 to find the last Indians offense to piece together that showing in a single month.

Notes: This marked only the eighth time in the past 100 seasons that an Indians’ staff had at least 250 strikeouts in a single month. Cleveland also accomplished the feat in 2013 (May, August, Sept/Oct), 1967 (August), 1965 (Sept/Oct) and 1964 (June, July). This was just the fourth time a Cleveland team had 15 wins and 250 strikeouts in one month and the third time with an ERA of 3.90 or better, plus 15 wins and 250 strikeouts. It also marked the ninth time a Tribe staff finished any one month with at least 200 strikeouts, 95 walks or fewer and 110 earned runs or fewer (once in 2014 and 2010, twice in 1968, and once in each of the 1967, ’66, ’65 and ’63 seasons. The Indians also became the fastest team this season to reach 500 strikeouts this season.

Notes: Among batters with at least 100 at-bats, Brantley’s slash line was the best in one month by an Indians’ hitter since Grady Sizemore’s .377/.455/.642 in June 2005. Prior to that, you’re looking at Roberto Alomar in July 2001, Manny Ramirez in Sept/Oct 2000 and Alomar again in Sept/Oct 2000. If you drop the requirement to 90 at-bats, Kipnis’ June from last season (.419/.517/.699) comes up. The last Tribesman to hit .345 with at least five homers, 19 RBIs and 21 runs in one month was Shin-Soo Choo in Sept/Oct 2008.

Apologies to… Chisenhall, who turned in a .373/.430/.590 slash line to go along with three homers, nine doubles, 14 RBIs and 15 runs in 26 games. I went with Brantley because he had a healthy lead on Chisenhall in at-bats (110 to 83) and Dr. Smooth’s defensive prowess in left field had more of an impact in the field. Chisenhall has also only recently begun to earn trust and playing time against left-handed pitching. Better luck in June, Lonnie Baseball.

Notes: Finishing a month with zero walks with as many appearances as Shaw had in May is a rare feat. In Indians history, only Bob Wickman (July 2001) and Derek Lilliquist (Sept/Oct 1992) previously had no walks with at least 14 games in one month. Only four Major League pitchers accomplished the feat in 2013: Kenley Jensen (June), Mark Melancon (March/April), Wesley Wright (May) and Edward Mujica (May).

Notes: Called up from Triple-A while starting catcher Yan Gomes was on MLB’s paternity list, Kottaras enjoyed one of the most memorable debuts in Indians history. With two homers out of the chute, Kottaras became the only player in Cleveland history to launch a home run in each of his first two career plate appearances with the club. The last Major Leaguer to accomplish that feat was Jeremy Giambi in 2002 with the A’s. That said, King George has nothing on Jamie “Statistical” Quirk. On Sept. 27, 1984, Quirk launched a walk-off homer in his only career plate appearance for Cleveland. No one will ever be able to top his 1.000/1.000/4.000 career slash line in an Indians uniform.

Notes: With this outing, Kluber became the first Indians pitcher to have at least 13 strikeouts in a start of eight or more innings since Bartolo Colon on Sept. 18, 2000. He was the first to have that kind of production in a team loss since Dave Burba did so on July 21, 1999. The last Indians pitcher to go at least eight with 13 strikeouts against the White Sox? You’re looking at McDowell on May 6, 1970.

What was surprising was the fact that, as I scrolled down the list of outfielders who made the cut for the Top 15, Cleveland’s Michael Brantley was nowhere to be found. Indians fans need to hop online and do all they can to change that in the weeks leading up to the Midsummer Classic.

It’s unrealistic to think that Brantley will fly up the leaderboard and earn a ticket to the All-Star Game as one of the three starting outfielders. Cleveland hasn’t had a player voted in by the fans since 2001 (Juan Gonzalez). There is still ample time to get him where he belongs, which is among the leading outfield candidates.

It’s fair to say that, barring some miraculous movement by Brantley backers, fan voting won’t get the outfielder to Target Field. No, it’s more likely that AL manager John Farrell looks at the list of statistically-deserving candidates and considers Brantley for the roster. That’s what happened a year ago, when AL manager Jim Leyland rewarded Jason Kipnis’ strong first half with a place among the game’s top talent.

No matter how he gets there, Brantley is currently the clear-cut choice as Cleveland’s All-Star representative. Starter Corey Kluber is also a deserving candidate — assuming he maintains his current production — but I’m going to stick with a player who is eligible via the voting process for this post.

Let’s take a look at the AL’s Top 15 outfielders courtesy of the latest voting results:

An argument could be made that not only is Brantley deserving of being among the Top 15, but he’s worthy of being listed among the Top 5, or even the Top 3. Let’s do the old “Player A vs. Player B” comparison, just to give you an idea as to how Brantley has fared to this point this season. Sure, there are better methods, but this is a quick, effective example:

Player A is Trout, the AL’s leading vote-getter at the moment and back-to-back runner-up MVP. Player B is, as you’ve likely guessed, Brantley. Through 49 games and 223 plate appearances (Trout) and 50 games and 215 plate appearances (Brantley), they have essentially been the same offensive player. Trout’s defense in center gives him an edge in the WAR department (3.1 to 1.8 via fangraphs), but Brantley is no slouch, as his MLB-leading six outfield assists will show.

Heading into Tuesday’s action, Brantley ranked sixth in the AL in wRC+ and eighth in WAR. He was also in the AL’s Top 5 in offensive WAR (fourth), power-speed rating (second) and win probability added (first). He also ranked in the league’s Top 10 for average (ninth), OBP (t-10th), OPS (10th), total bases (10th), RBI (sixth), OPS+ (seventh), runs created (ninth), times on base (t-eighth) and at-bats per strikeout (sixth).

Those are the Top 5 and Top 10 among all hitters in the AL, not just outfielders.

Among all Major League hitters, Brantley entered Tuesday as one of just six with at least a .300 average to go along with at least 30 RBI and 30 run scored. That short list also included Troy Tulowitzki, Charlie Blankmon, Alexei Ramirez, Giancarlo Stanton and Paul Goldschmidt. If you rank them by OPS+, Tulo leads the way at 208, followed by Stanton (177) and Brantley (153).

What’s been remarkable about Brantley’s emergence this season is his increased power production. His .208 ISO was 14th in the AL, entering Tuesday, but well above his career rate (.114). Brantley’s ground-ball percentage has actually increased some over last season and his line-drive rate is down slightly. What he has done differently this year is dramatically reduced the amount of fly balls over the infield (3.9% compared to 7.4% for his career). One byproduct of that has been a considerable spike in his homer-to-fly ball ratio (17.6% compared to 6.2% for his career).

Given Brantley’s career rates, it’s fair to assume there will be some regression in power production as the season progresses, but his current output undoubtedly puts him among the game’s top hitters. He’s also done this while seeing fewer fastballs (56.8% compared to 63.2% for his career) and dealing with more breaking and offspeed pitches. One result of that has been fewer swings overall on pitches both in and outside the strike zone. Basically, when Brantley gets his pitch, he’s attacking it. That’s also led to a slight increase in swing-and-miss rate (4.1% is highest of his career).

Indians manager Terry Francona recently had this to say about Brantley’s increase in power:

“It’s fun to watch. I think his base is stronger — his legs. As good hitters get to know themselves throughout the league, sometimes that evolves into more production. I think that’s what you’re seeing. I don’t think you see him selling out to hit home runs. [It’s] just balls that maybe used to be doubles, he’s starting to drive over the fence, which is great to see. What I really like is the fact that he’s the same hitter, he’s just generating a few more home runs.”

“It’s trusting that every time it’s going to be all right and not trying to tinker or make adjustments when there’s no need to. … [When I was younger] I was trying to do whatever worked that felt good at the time, instead of going back to the basics and doing exactly what I was doing before. That’s just not trying to do too much and putting good swings on good pitches.”

Through two months, it’s worked for Brantley, who has looked more and more like the Indians’ top All-Star candidate. The voters need to start noticing.

FIRST: Well, that was something. I’ve seen balks and I’ve covered plenty of walk-offs, but Wednesday marked the first balk-off of my career. Cleveland isn’t going to complain about the manner in which it won. The Indians won and they completed a sweep of the rival Tigers.

Cleveland went 4-15 against Detroit last year and is now 4-1 against the Motor City this year.

These were three days that the Tribe needed in a bad way.

“We took enormous steps this week,” Indians manager Terry Francona said, “to getting that personality and that chemistry and all the things you talk about that you’re dying to get to. We took some enormous strides getting there.”

This one felt like a boxing match. Detroit scored four in the first, so Cleveland scored six in the first two innings. Detroit added one in the third. So did the Tribe. The Tigers scored two more in the fifth and another pair in the eighth. The Indians knotted things up again with two in the ninth. Detroit scored one in the 13th, and Cleveland answered with two for the win.

“A few weeks ago, we really didn’t show a whole lot of fight. Things weren’t working out,” Indians right fielder David Murphy said. “From our very first at-bat, you knew our offense was going to be up to something today. It was a lot of fun to watch. I wish it wouldn’t have taken 5 1/2 hours, but it was a lot of fun.”

Three days ago, the Indians were still dealing with the embarrassment of their three-game brooming at the hands of the A’s. Oakland trounced the Tribe 11-1 on Friday. The A’s then lost Scott Kazmir to an ejection in the second inning Saturday and still pulled of a 6-2 win (one riddled with errors by Cleveland). On Sunday, the Indians were routed 13-3.

Meanwhile, Detroit came to Cleveland riding a six-game winning streak and having won 15 of 18 games.

In the three losses to Oakland, the Indians hit .191 as a team, went 0-for-15 with runners in scoring position and ended with six runs scored, three home runs and five extra-base hits. In the three wins over the Tigers, Cleveland hit .347 as a team, went 15-for-42 with RISP and ended with 22 runs, four home runs and 16 extra-base hits.

“This game is crazy,” Tigers closer Joe Nathan said. “These guys get swept and absolutely boatraced by Oakland before we get here. We’re playing as good as we’ve played all season before we get here. And who would’ve seen this happening? I don’t think anybody. But it’s a crazy game.”

Crazy, indeed.

Nathan gave up a game-tying, two-run home run to Murphy in the ninth inning, sending the contest into extra innings. Josh Tomlin (Cleveland’s planned starter for Thursday) logged the last three innings and gave up a solo homer to Alex Avila in the 13th. In the home half of that frame, Michael Brantley delivered a game-tying RBI single and, three batters later, Ryan Raburn was at the plate when reliever Al Alburquerque flinched for a balk with the bases loaded and two outs.

“Do I get an RBI for that?” Raburn joked.

Cleveland used 21 players, including nine pitchers who combined for 269 pitches. The game lasted five hours and 16 minutes, marking the longest game at Progressive Field since Aug. 30, 2008. The balk-off was the first in the Majors since July 4, 2011 (White Sox over Royals) and only the 13th such walk-off win in baseball, dating back to 1974.

Murphy put it best.

“I don’t even know where to start with that game,” he said. “I don’t really know if that was a baseball game, or a marathon combined with a circus.”

SECOND: The circus’ first act was another disaster of a performance by Indians starter Zach McAllister. the big right-hander lasted only two batters into the third inning, when he gave up a leadoff homer to Victor Martinez before walking J.D. Martinez.

McAllister finished with five runs allowed (four earned) on five hits with two strikeouts and two walks in two-plus innings, in which he gave up two homers and threw 59 pitches (36 strikes).

“I felt good up there. The way my body feels, everything feels great. I’m happy with that,” McAllister said. “Again, it’s two starts in a row that have not gone well for me at all. I know I can pitch better. I know what our offense did today is awesome, our offense picked every one of our pitchers up and our bullpen did a tremendous job of helping me out.”

In his previous start, McAllister surrendered a four-spot to the A’s in the second inning on Friday. Over his past 5.2 innings of work (covering three outings), he has surrendered 18 runs (17 earned) on 20 hits with six walks, seven strikeouts and four home runs. Over his past six outings, McAllister has gone 0-4 with a 9.51 ERA and 1.86 WHIP after opening the season 3-0 with a 2.28 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in four starts.

After his latest struggle, Francona hesitated when asked what he thinks is troubling the righty.

“You know what? I don’t know,” Francona said. “I think 10 minutes after a game, it’s kind of hard to digest, especially after a game like this. I think I want to talk to [pitching coach Mickey Callaway] a little bit about it. I know they’ve been spending some time together. He was on such a nice roll for a while and it’s been rough lately. I’d rather kind of regroup and kind of see where we’re at.”

THIRD: The Indians have had their share off offensive issues. Three bright spots have been third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall (.367 in 34 games), Brantley (.302 in 45 games) and Murphy (.294 in 43 games). That trio combined to go 8-for-18 with two homers, three doubles, six runs and eight RBIs in Wednesday’s walk-off win over the Tigers.

At the moment, Brantley appears to be Cleveland’s top All-Star candidate.

“Brantley just continues to be so good in so many areas,” Francona said. “Defensively or on the bases, and certainly hitting. He’s just turning into a premiere player. It’s kind of like when [Jason Kipnis] got going last year on that run. Brantley’s kind of getting in that boat where he’s one of the better players in the league right now.”

HOME: Two of the betters pitchers in the league right now, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, were worked hard and abused by Cleveland’s offense over the past two games. Verlander gave up five runs in the first two innings on Tuesday and Scherzer allowed seven runs in the first three innings on Wednesday. They then showed their value by finishing with six innings and seven innings, respectively.

“They’ve won two out of the last three Cy Youngs,” Murphy said. “Obviously, they’re incredible pitchers. They have great stuff. All the same, for instance, Scherzer today, he was leaving balls middle earlier in the game, and we were making him pay. He’s got the type of stuff that he can get away with leaving stuff in the middle of the zone, but when our offense is hot like it was today, we were doing a good job of driving the ball.

“He obviously settled down in the later innings, but any time you put up seven on the reigning Cy Young winner, I think that’s a pretty good day. Those guys are workhorses. Whatever the benchmark is for a normal starting pitcher, 100 pitches, those guys are always going 110-120. They eat innings as much as any pitcher, on top of having incredible stuff. Those are two guys that everybody would love to have at the top of their rotation.”

EXTRA: There will be roster moves coming for the Indians on Thursday. After going through the entire bullpen (with the exception of Cody Allen) and using Tomlin, Cleveland will need a starter for Thursday and also some relief reinforcements. Two starting pitching possibilities are right-handers Kyle Davies and Travis Banwart, through neither are on the 40-man roster. A subsequent move would be required. Lefty T.J. House would make sense, but he was just optioned back to Triple-A Tuesday, so he is not eligible to come back yet (unless someone is placed on the disabled list). As for McAllister, I’m not sure what the Tribe can do. With no off-day, McAllister can’t be skipped. He could be sent down, but there’s no clear replacement at the moment. Righty Danny Salazar was optioned on Friday, so he’s not eligible to return by McAllister’s next scheduled turn, either. Maybe they can ask Jason Giambi if his right calf is still sore? We’ll find out Thursday what the moves will be. Cleveland had a flight to Baltimore to catch after Wednesday’s debacle.

NOTE: I will be off for the upcoming road trip through Baltimore and Chicago. Keeping checking Indians.com and following @tribeinsider and @Indians for updates. Believe me, I’d much rather be hitting the road. I’m having my wisdom teeth removed this week. Good times!

The evening began with the news that the Indians had understandably demoted struggling starter Danny Salazar to Triple-A. The night ended with a lopsided loss carved from a clunker of an outing from Zach McAllister.

What was so perplexing about McAllister’s night was the brilliant manner in which it began. The righty set down Coco Crisp, John Jaso and Josh Donaldson in order to open the game, striking each of them out and throwing 11 of his first 16 pitches for strikes.

“Boy, the first inning, he came out really good,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “He threw some of his better breaking balls that we’ve seen. He kind of had some power to it.”

And then in the second inning…

Well, let’s just say that the swiftness with which McAllister fell apart was historic. According to research through baseball-reference.com’s Play Index, it marked the first time in the past 100 years of baseball that a Major League starter struck out the side in order in the first before allowing at least eight runs in the second, among pitchers with no more than two innings logged.

In 1.1 innings of work, McAllister was charged with eight runs on five hits with three walks, three strikeouts and two home runs. He ended with 54 pitches, including 29 strikes.

As our friends over at LetsGoTribe.com pointed out, McAllister’s performance netted a negative game score (-4). That made it only the sixth negative game score by an Indians pitcher, dating back to at least 1914. That list includes Charles Nagy (-1 on Aug. 14, 1998), Bob Feller (-15 on Aug. 26, 1938), Oral Hildebrand (-4 on July 14, 1935), Johnny Miljus (-26 on July 25, 1929) and Joe Shaute (-1 on June 16, 1925).

McAllister’s was only the ninth game score of -4 or worse with no more than 1.1 innings logged in the past 100 years of box scores. The last such occurrence was on Aug. 17, 2008, when Brian Bannister accomplished that dubious feat for Kansas City.

“In the second inning of a game,” Francona said, “you want to give a guy a chance to get through it. Maybe he can gather himself. Even if you go four [innings], you’re not into your bullpen in your second inning. But, it just wasn’t happening.”

With that loss, McAllister’s season ERA ballooned from 3.89 to 5.36. The righty is now 0-4 with an 8.72 ERA in his last five starts (all five were losses for the Indians). In that span, he has 24 strikeouts and 10 walks with a .303 (27-for-89) opponents’ average. The eight runs on Friday certainly skews things there, but it’s still a dramatic drop-off from his first four starts of the year. In that time period, he went 3-0 with a 2.28 ERA and .233 (21-for-90) opponents’ average. Cleveland won all four games and he had 17 strikeouts and seven walks.

“I know I haven’t pitched my best,” McAllister said. “Obviously, you’re going to have some peaks and valleys. Right now, I’m down, as far as the way I’ve been pitching lately. I know I’ve got to get back up to that middle ground and pitch better.”

Francona said McAllister’s task now is to ignore the numbers and weather the current storm.

“[He has] to be strong enough mentally to understand that he is a good pitcher,” Francona said. “It might take a while to get that ERA to where he’s comfortable, but that doesn’t mean he can’t win.”

SECOND: No one expected rookie lefty Kyle Crockett to reach the Majors as fast as he did. He was called up from Double-A Akron on Friday, making him the first player from the 20013 Draft to reach the Majors. So, it seemed fitting that Crockett’s MLB debut came sooner than expected, too.

Once McAllister’s struggles reached the tipping point, Francona brought the 22-year-old Crockett into the contest with one out in the second inning. The left-hander started with a walk to Moss, but quickly recovered by inducing an inning-ending doubleplay groundout from Cespedes. Francona let Crockett stay on the hill in the third, and he gave up a leadoff homer to Lowrie and a single to Norris before retiring the final two batters he faced.

“I thought he was nervous, which is to be expected,” Francona said. “Once he gave up the home run, I thought he settled down a little bit and actually threw the ball like he can. He’ll be a command guy. Tonight, he was yanking some pitches. I thought it was good to get that first one out of the way for him and let him settle in.”

THIRD: A’s right-hander Sonny Gray (5-1, 2.10 ERA) is good enough without a huge pile of run support. So, once the right-hander had an 8-1 lead, he pounded the strike zone and cruised through six frames en route to the win. Gray struck out nine, walked three and scattered two hits.

“He’s a pretty special pitcher,” Francona said. “He’s not the biggest guy in the world, but he can cut it, sink it, breaking ball. A lot of our thinking today was, ‘Hey, when you get the first fastball, if it’s middle, go ahead and whack it, because he doesn’t give you much after that.’

“Then, when you get a lead like he had, that kind of plays right into [his hand]. After the first time through the order, man, he’d get to two strikes and he’d just put us away. He’s got so many weapons. The big breaking ball. He’s got a fastball with movement and he commands so well.”

HOME: Not only did McAllister come out firing in the first inning, the Indians’ received a solo homer from Nick Swisher (his first blast since April 12) in the opening frame to grab a quick lead. It’s amazing, though, how a game can feel over only a half-inning later. Following Oakland’s eight-run outburst, Cleveland’s offense went 2-for-26 with 12 strikeouts. The Indians had as many errors (two) in the field as hits off Gray and the A’s had more home runs (three) than the Tribe had runners in scoring position.

There were few positives to be found in this one. The blowout did give Francona the chance to get Crockett his first appearance in the Majors, and the opportunity to get Mike Aviles and Jesus Aguilar their first career work in center field and at third base, respectively. Carlos Carrasco also helped save the bullpen some bullets by eating up the final four innings.

FIRST: Little by little, Nyjer Morgan is allowing Tony Plush to make appearances. You know T.P. is there when Morgan scrunches his face, lets out a growl or begins to almost use a different voice.

Plush isn’t quite back from vacation just yet, but he’s certainly checking in from time to time.

There was no doubt T. Plush was on hand at Tropicana Field on Sunday. He arrived in the eighth inning, when Morgan drilled a pitch from Brandon Gomes over the wall in right field for a leadoff home run. It was Morgan’s first homer in the big leagues since July 30, 2012.

As he left the box, Morgan stared at his blast, held his bat out high and gave it a little flip as it cleared the fence. Plush then ran the bases, one hand tucked close to his body as he made his way around second. He gave an excited high five to third-base coach Mike Sarbaugh and then, as he crossed the plate, Plush quickly flashed his signature “T” with his hands.

It was so fast, we asked if that’s what he did just to be certain.

“I threw up the ‘T,'” said Morgan, whose face contorted as he cocked his head to the side and raise the pitch of his voice. “Threw up the ‘T.’ Just a little one. I kind of short-armed it.”

Plush began laughing.

“Because, you know, that was kind of a Japanese bat flip,” he added, growling, laughing some more. “Yeah, yeah, that Japanese bat flip.”

We’re all laughing now, as Plush now lowered the pitch of his voice to a slow exaggerated tone.

“I was thinking I might end up wearing one. Haah. Haah. Haah. Haaah.”

Whoever it was on the field, he went 3-for-4 with a pair of bunt singles and the home run. Through 14 games this season, all Tony Wahoo has done is turn in a .341/.429/.439 slash line with the homer, one double, six RBIs, three stolen bases, eight runs and more walks (seven) than strikeouts (six) in 41 at-bats.

Morgan didn’t play on Friday or Saturday, and his playing time has been sparse since Michael Bourn returned again from injury. On Sunday, Indians manager Terry Francona really wanted to get him into the game. Michael Brantley served as the DH for the day, Bourn manned center and Plush played left.

“He always plays with energy,” Francona said. “He gets kind of the swinging bunt for a run and then he hits the home run. He made a running catch in left field. We were kind of looking for a way to get him in there today, and I’m glad we did.”

The swinging bunt came on an excuse-me swing against Rays righty Chris Archer in the second inning. The ball wound up being perfectly placed down the third-base line, where it rolled to a stop as Asdrubal Cabrera scored. Morgan then bunted for a single again in the sixth, reaching with a head-first slide, but only being deemed safe after a quick instant-replay review.

“I knew I was safe,” Morgan said.

Morgan then moved to second on a balk by reliever Brad Boxberger, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sac fly from Mike Aviles. Morgan said, in his mind, there was no doubt that his abilities as a baserunner influenced that chain of events.

“That’s what I do,” Morgan said. “I’m a threat no matter how you take it. If I’m on first, Mikey’s behind me, they’re going to leave a fastball up for him. My job, even if I’m not base stealing, I can still be a threat just by being out there. I know my game and I know myself. And I know that I’m a dangerous weapon.”

SECOND: In Friday’s win, John Axford labored through a 31-pitch inning that turned in what should’ve been an easy 6-2 win into a nailbiter. Cody Allen cleaned things up, sealing a 6-3 win and prompting the Indians to make a change in the ninth for now.

On Saturday, Axford was informed that he will not be closing games out for the time being. Cleveland wants him to work out some mechanical kinks and find some consistency with his command before resuming that role. In the meantime, Allen, Scott Atchison, Marc Rzepczynski and Bryan Shaw will all hold the fort down for the Tribe.

“We’re all 100-percent confident that he can do it,” said Allen, referring to Axford being the closer. “He’s has over 100 saves in his career for a reason. We’re all confident that he’s going to get there. Maybe just a little rest, a little side work and we’ll get him back to where he needs to be. And we’ll be back to being a better ‘pen.”

On Sunday, Francona used his four-headed closing monster for the first time.

Situationally, it was easy to see how it works. Atchison and Rzepczynski handled the seventh and Zep stayed in for the eighth. When a leadoff walk and botched grounder (Rzepczynski made a throwing error on a would-be, inning-ending double play) threatened the game and put runners on base, Francona turned to Allen to bail the team out. Allen was uncharacteristically wild, but he escaped nonetheless with Cleveland clinging to a one-run lead. Shaw then entered and picked up the save with a clean ninth.

It wasn’t pretty, but in theory, it was aligned in a way that made sense.

Ax is going to be fine,” Rzepczynski said. “He’ll get back to where he needs to be and he’ll get right back in that role eventually. The other four guys, I think just depending on the lineup and depending on who’s available, they’re just just going to go out there and do their job no matter what inning, sixth, seventh, eighth ninth, it doesn’t really matter.

“For me, I look at the lefties and see where they’re hitting. … The other three guys did their job today. Like Tito said, we’ll piece together the ninth or piece together to get to the ninth and whoever is available will go out there and do their job.”

Hopefully with a little less stress next time for Cleveland’s sake.

THIRD: Overall, the Tribe’s rotation went 2-1 with a 4.76 ERA and 1.41 WHIP in the series against the Rays. Not great, but the numbers are skewed by Zach McAllister’s outing on Saturday, when he gave up five runs in 4.1 innings. Corey Kluber (Friday) and Josh Tomlin (Sunday) combined to allow four runs in 12.2 innings with a combined 11 strikeouts (full disclosure: nine via Kluber) and no walks.

For Tomlin, Sunday was his second win in a row since officially completing his return to the rotation after Tommy John surgery. Asked what was working for him in Sunday’s start (six innings, two runs), Tomlin laughed.

“The defense was, to be honest with you,” he said.

Tomlin didn’t have his best stuff — evidenced by the 102 pitches he threw — but he survived and limited the damage.

“The thing that he’s got is he’s going to go out there and battle,” Indians catcher Yan Gomes said. “You know exactly what you’re getting out of him. I don’t think he’s necessarily fooling anybody, but he’s pitching unbelievable, man. He’s going in and out and his fastball plays up, because he’s mixing in his offspeed pretty well.”

HOME: Wielding a pink bat for Mother’s Day, Gomes belted a leadoff homer for the Indians in the sixth inning on Sunday. Combined with Morgan’s blast, that gave Cleveland its fifth multi-homer game in 10 games in May. The Indians had only three multi-homer games in 28 games in March/April.

The Indians have launched 12 homers in May’s 10 games, with five in the last three games and eight in the last five games. In March/April, Cleveland had just 19 games in an anemic month for the offense.

In this series, the Indians scored a combined 12 runs on 23 hits in the two wins. Saturday’s one-run, three-hit showing against lefty Erik Bedard was brutal, but Tampa Bay also put up seven runs and wound up with a blowout. It was the kind of loss that, in David Murphy’s words, players “won’t lose sleep over,” because clunkers like that happen from time to time in a long season. Accept it and move on.

It is worth noting that the Indians have scored 47 runs in 10 games in May for an average of 4.7 per game. In March/April, Cleveland averaged 2.8 runs per game (106 in 28 games). So far in May, the Indians have also turned in a .259/.333/.466 slash line, compared to a .232/.313/.354 line in the first month. Currently, Cleveland’s .779 OPS for May ranks third in the American League.

FUN FACT: When Gomes (Yan) singled off Gomes (Brandon) on Friday, I simply had to know if any other Gomes had recorded a hit off another Gomes in baseball history. As it happens, Yan Gomes is the only Gomes in Major League history to have a hit off another Gomes. He’s gone 2-for-3. Jonny Gomes has no hits off Brandon Gomes, and Wayne Gomes never faced another Gomes in his career. So, there you have it. We can all sleep easy tonight with that knowledge in hand.

I’m still waiting for the day that Hannahan faces Hanrahan. Hey, a sportswriter can dream, can’t he?

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY… to all the great moms out there. I don’t know where I’d be without my awesome wife, Kelly, who is loving and caring and so understanding. I leave for weeks at a time with this job and she’s back home taking care of our two kiddos. Shoot, when I’m home, I just get in the way! And there is not a day that goes by when I do not think about my own mom, Patti. She passed away when I was young, but I was a momma’s boy long enough to now cherish every moment I had with her. Ma had a passion for baseball (Sorry, Tribe fans, she rooted for the White S0x) and my love of the game was fueled by hers when I was a kid. Mom’s can play catch, too, and mine did plenty of times with me. If it weren’t for my mom, I know I wouldn’t be working in baseball. I actually don’t know what I’d be doing. I owe her a lot.

FIRST: Asdrubal Cabrera sensed the group of reporters gathering behind him at his locker. The Indians shortstop glanced back, shook his head and gave a wave of his hand.

“Don’t wait for me,” he said

On a day to celebrate Cabrera, he exercised his right to decline comment. That didn’t stop manager Terry Francona or Cabrera’s teammates from raving about the shortstop’s showing on Thursday.

In a rout of the Twins that wrapped up a 5-2 homestand, Cabrera went 4-for-5 at the plate with one home run, two doubles, two runs and three RBIs. He fell a triple short of the cycle, though he actually made it to third base on his two-base hit in the eighth. The official scorer gave Cabrera a double and deemed that he advanced to third on the relay throw from right field to the plate.

“He had a cycle. They took it away,” Francona said. “I’m not really sure. I have to look at the rules, but he never broke stride. I’m not sure that really isn’t a triple. I don’t know if I’m begging, but when you see the ball get by the right fielder and Cabby never broke stride, I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets changed back.”

The official scorer was none other than long-time Indians beat reporter Sheldon Ocker, who retired prior to this season after 30-plus years covering the Tribe. This marked Ocker’s first game working as an official scorer and, as the baseball gods usually see fit, he was given a tough call on Day 1.

“I thought he retired,” Francona quipped.

Was it a triple?

Said left fielder Michael Brantley: “Absolutely. He worked hard for that. Those don’t come every day. He ran the whole time, didn’t look back, didn’t stutter step. I want it for him. He deserves it.”

Added infielder Mike Aviles: “I think so. I think when we’re at home, it has to be a triple. Obviously, the official scorer doesn’t think so. He gave him it at first, which I thought was weird, to just take it away right away. And you can tell him I said that.”

Travis Hafner remains the last Indians batter to hit for a cycle, doing so on Aug. 14, 2003 in Minnesota.

Cycle or not, Cabrera still had himself a day.

Cabby launched a leadoff homer in the second and then contributed an RBI double in each of the seventh and eighth innings. Since snapping an 0-for-13 slump on Wednesday — a drought that came within a 5-for-40 showing over a 13-game span — Cabrera has gone 6-for-7 at the plate with four extra-base hits.

“It’s great,” Brantley said. “We’ve been doing a great job picking him up as a team, making sure that he knows we’re still in his corner. Keep working, keep fighting. He’s been working his tail in the cage, early work. We’ve been watching it. It’s good to see it pay off. It’s going to continue to pay off. He’s a great player.”

Cabrera’s four-hit showing lifted his season average to just .238 through 35 games. The shortstop’s early-season production has been skewed by drastic lefty-righty splits. Batting left-handed against righties, he headed into Thursday with a .173/.271/.213 slash line. As a righty versus left-handers, Cabrera had a .283/.340/.478 slash line. It was encouraging for Cleveland that Cabrera’s outburst Thursday came from the left side of the plate.

“That shows you how smart I was,” Francona said. “I was going to give him the day off. He talked me out of it.”

SECOND: Cabrera was hardly alone in Thursday’s offensive outpouring.

The Indians matched a season high with 15 hits and set a season high with nine extra-base hits and seven doubles. Six players had at least one hit, while four had multi-hit showings. In fact, those four — Brantley (3-for-5), Cabrera (4-for-5), Aviles (3-for-4) and David Murphy (3-for-4) gave Cleveland its first game with four players collecting at least three hits apiece since April 18, 2009 (Hafner, Mark DeRosa, Grady Sizemore and Jhonny Peralta).

“Hitting is contagious,” Brantley said. “One hit goes and another hit goes and you kind of just lean on one another. It was fun to be a part of today.”

Over the six-game homestand, the Indians hit .261 as a team with 34 runs (4.9 per game) on 60 hits, including 26 for extra bases. During the 0-6 road trip through San Francisco and Anaheim, just prior to the homestand, Cleveland hit .183 as a team with 13 runs (2.2 per game) on 35 hits, including 10 for extra bases. It’s worth noting that 21 of the runs at home came in two games (12 on Friday and nine Thursday).

“We’re still inconsistent in some things,” Francona said. “But we’re doing a lot of things better than we were. This whole homestand, we played with a lead [a lot]. The two games we lost, we lost late. I think we’re playing with a little more confidence, a little more purpose. It’s just a little better feel and I think that’s good.”

THIRD: Short of back-to-back losses by closer John Axford, who blew a save Sunday and gave up the decisive home run in extra innings on Monday, Cleveland could have swept the seven games at home against the White Sox and Twins. The main reason for that was the consistent starting pitching.

“Our pitching gave us a chance every single game,” Francona said. “That’s a good way to play. I think we believe that we’re going to hit. Hitters go up and down, for sure, but when you pitch that consistently, you always have a chance to win.”

On Thursday, Justin Masterson picked up the win after turning in 6.1 innings, in which he was charged with four runs (two earned) on four hits. He struck out seven, walked four, hit one batter and threw a wild pitch. Masterson cruised through the first five frames on 50 pitches before hitting a few snags in the sixth and seventh.

HOME: During the recent road trip, not only did the Indians lose six straight, but they yanked Carlos Carrasco out of the rotation and lost second baseman Jason Kipnis to an oblique injury. All Josh Tomlin did as Carrasco’s replacement was spin a gem on Tuesday for a win. As for Aviles, he has excelled as Cleveland’s fill-in for its All-Star second baseman.

Since replacing Kipnis in the April 29 game in Anaheim, all Aviles has done is hit .545 (12-for-22) with three doubles and four runs for Cleveland.

“What Mike Aviles has done this year for us hs been huge, man,” Indians first baseman Nick Swisher said. “He’s showing everybody how athletic he is.”

Asked by a reporter if the baseball looks like a beach ball right now, Aviles laughed.

“Did you see my hits? They were bloops. It can’t be a beach ball,” he said. “In baseball, you go up, down, up, down, up, down and, fortunately enough, things are going well for myself and for the team. I’ll take it while I can. There will be times when I’ll hit balls hard, the team will hit balls hard, and it will be right at people. We’ll take them when we can.”

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